


One Shiny Movie Night

by Ultra



Category: Firefly, Leverage, Serenity (2005)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Movie Night, Parallels, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-29
Updated: 2011-05-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 05:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7877539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Hardison's turn to choose the movie the Leverage Team will watch tonight. Little did they know how much a movie about space cowboys could change their lives and relationships...</p><p>(Originally written for basched)</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Shiny Movie Night

Movie night hadn’t been a deliberate activity for the Leverage Team, more like one night they all happened to be at Nate’s place talking about movies they liked or wanted to see and all agreed on one for the evening’s viewing. Now it had become a semi-regular occurrence, each person taking their turn to pick what the nights entertainment would be.

It became a rather eclectic mix - Sophie chose Shakespeare adaptations and musicals, Nate preferred old classics, film noir, and the occasional western, whilst Eliot went mostly for true stories and docu-dramas, and Parker, well, she was as random as ever in genre and styles.

That just left Hardison and what Eliot called his ‘sci-fi nerd crap’. To be fair, he had steered clear of Trek, Matrix, and other traditional science fiction choices, and some of them even gained approval amongst the team, but tonight had not started well when he briefed his friends on the fact ‘Serenity’ was based on a failed TV show and was set 500 years in the future on a spaceship.

“Great, more space trash,” Eliot grumbled as he propped a foot up on the coffee table and slumped into the couch cushions.

“Yay,” said Parker next to him, tone flat and sarcastic, as she dug her hand deep into the large popcorn bowl between them.

“It might not be so bad,” Sophie considered, painting on an encouraging smile they all knew was fake.

Nate said nothing as he glanced at the three on the couch then to his over-zealous hacker in the armchair opposite his own. Oh, it was going to be a long night!

“Just give it a chance, guys,” Hardison urged them as he hit play and the vid-screen came alive...

* * *

As the girl they called River laid waste to all who challenged her in the bar, all five viewers were riveted.

“Wow, look at the way she moves!” gasped Sophie.

“That’s some serious fighting skills,” Eliot had to agree. “We’re talking multiple martial arts... that takes years!” he declared, clearly impressed, as he sat up on the couch to pay better attention,

“That can’t be real,” the grifter shook her head, staring positively agog at the display, “No-one can move that fast and bend like that”

“I can,” said Parker as she popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth.

That took Eliot and Hardion’s attention from the TV a moment, but they were back to watching the action before long - it was too good to miss more than a moment!

* * *

Nate chuckled as Captain Mal explained his lack of fighting with Inara meant a trap had to be in place.

Perhaps the laughter sounded genuine to the others but there was a nervousness about it he himself was all too aware of. His eyes shifted right to Sophie and caught her staring at him with a sad smile. Yeah, she knew.

* * *

“Oh!” Parker and Sophie both gasped with shock as the spike from the front of the Reaver ship pierced Wash’s body, spearing him to the pilot’s seat.

Sophie put her hands over her eyes and turned away, whilst Parker buried her face in Eliot’s shoulder without even thinking.

“It’s just a movie, Parker,” he told her, surprisingly gently given his usual lack of patience with anybody’s weakness.

“But he was the nice little funny man,” she complained, her voice a little muffled by the hitter’s shirt sleeve and child-like in its innocence. “It’s not fair.”

“Bad things happen to good folks,” said Hardison sadly, practically crying himself, as Zoe fought not to right there on the screen.

Nate nodded his agreement, though a smile appeared when he glanced over towards the couch and noticed Eliot’s arm was now around Parker’s shoulders in a comforting gesture. It was about time those two started to realise what they meant to each other.

“It’s gone now,” the mastermind said then, looking to Sophie, tapping her on the elbow to get her attention. “Coast is clear,” he promised.

“Not for long,” Hardison told them all grimly, as all hell broke loose on the vid-screen before them.

* * *

“Wow!” said Sophie, dabbing her eyes with a paper napkin as the credits rolled. “That was... That was a good choice, Hardison,” she told him emotionally.

He only nodded his response, clearly choked up himself, despite admitting he had watched this movie a grand total of 486 times since its theatrical release a few years ago. He was a Browncoat and proud.

“Pretty good, man,” Eliot agreed. “That Jayne guy is cool.”

“How’d I know you’d say that?” the hacker grinned then, offering his buddy the usual hand-slap/fist-bump combo.

“Yes, it was a very interesting story,” Nate piped up then, though he never looked away from the screen, even though only the credits were showing now.

“That’s a thoughtful expression,” noted Sophie as the others moved to clear away the dishes and food packets - something was clearly on his mind.

“Sorry,” he apologised, snapping out of his apparent daze and looking at her. “I was just thinking...”

“About the movie?” Sophie prompted when he failed to finish the sentence in good time.

Nate continued to stare at her, almost too intensely for a moment. His mouth opened and closed twice before he actually spoke.

“I’m just... I guess I’m glad for Mal that, er, that Inara came back to him, to stay this time,” he said with a genuine smile. “I mean, he’s a great Captain, he does his job okay either way, obviously, but... things were just better when she was there with him.”

Sophie felt all the more emotional at the sound of those words. A veiled compliment it may be, but she’d take what she could get where Nate was concerned, until he was ready to give it all.

Over in the kitchen, Hardison bagged up the empties for recycling whilst Eliot washed the dishes. Parker sat up on the counter top, munching on what was left of the snacks,

“So, there isn’t anymore?” she checked. “Like with the Star Wars thing, there was three, and the Star Trek movies go on and on...”

“Nah, there’s just Serenity,” Hardison told her, “’cept for Firefly, the TV show, but that all happened before the Big Damn Movie, not after.”

“Oh.” The little thief looked genuinely sad to hear that.

“What’s left to say that they didn’t already?” asked Eliot as he got done at the sink and turned around drying a bowl on a dish towel. “River’s fixed, more or less; the mechanic chick got her guy; the government got outed for being crooked; and the Captain still has his ship,” he reeled off succinctly, in such a way that Hardison was almost proud. “What’s left to happen?"

Parker shrugged her shoulders before hopping down off the counter, wiping her hands clean on the legs of her jeans as she did so.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess I just wanted to see if River and Jayne lived happily ever after, or whatever.”

She turned to walk away then, unaware of the twin looks of astonishment her back was getting right now.

“Oh, hey, hold up there, woman!” Hardison called behind her, looking with disbelief at an unabashed Parker. “River Tam and Jayne Cobb?” he over-emphasised. “You think they a couple?!” he asked worth apparent shock.

“Well, not in the movie, obviously.” She rolled her eyes at what she saw as his incompetence. “But after, yeah, why not?” She shrugged.

“He wanted her off the ship!” exclaimed Eliot, putting down the glass he had been drying before he lost his mind and threw it. “He hated her!”

“I think he was just afraid,” said Parker, her eyes shifting from hacker to hitter and meeting Eliot’s own steady gaze. “He didn’t understand her because she was different, a little crazy,” she said, lips quirking into an odd smile as she spoke.

Hardison didn’t seem to notice what was happening as he continued to argue his point.

“I’m sorry, we’re talking about Jayne Cobb here,” he said emphatically. “Likes to beat up on people. A hired gun, okay? A willing killing machine!”

“Doesn’t make him a bad person,” Parker countered, though she never did look away from Eliot as she answered Hardison. “He cared about the people that mattered. Besides, he’s probably as screwed up as the crazy girl, in his own way,” she shrugged. “Probably means he’s the only person who could really understand her.”

Eliot couldn’t help but smile then as he more than caught on to her meaning by now.

“Maybe that’s why she bugs him so much,” he considered, “because he cares.”

Hardison continued to argue, unaware (thankfully) of the fuller meaning to this conversation. Little did he know that his sci-fi movie choice for the night would result in the consummation of two relationships tonight, one much longer in the making than the other of course, but both just as important as each other.

Through one little movie, that the rest of the team had never even heard of until tonight, Nate and Sophie, and Eliot and Parker would find love, peace, contentment, and... oh yeah, Serenity.


End file.
